There’s one way to make Jackie Stiles red-faced and uncomfortable these days.

Mention the statue of the NCAA Division I all-time scoring leader that will be erected outside JQH Arena later this year.

Stiles joins such names as Shaquille O’Neal, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird as college basketball legends who have had statues erected on their college campuses.

“How can you not be (embarrassed), having a statue?” Stiles said with a laugh. “Never in my wildest dreams did I fathom when I started playing basketball that one day that would happen. I can’t even verbalize what having a statue means.”

It will be a busy — and no doubt humbling — summer for Stiles, who turned in one of the most impressive four-year playing careers for the Lady Bears, ending in a Final Four appearance in 2001.

Before the statue unveiling, scheduled for early in the 2016-17 season, she will be inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday in Knoxville, Tenn.

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Coach Cheryl Burnett presents Jackie Stiles with the game ball during a postgame ceremony after Stiles set the NCAA career scoring record in 2001.(Photo: NEWS-LEADER FILE PHOTO)

“I think her team, her coaches, the community, the state of Missouri, the state of Kansas, we’re all going to be celebrating her,” said Cheryl Burnett, the longtime Lady Bears coach who has been a mentor even after Stiles finished her playing career at Missouri State.

“And to have had the opportunity to coach her, absolutely it will be a special moment.”

If the idea of one statue is unbelievable, consider this will be Stiles’ second statue in the Ozarks.

Stiles already is immortalized in mid-jump shot with a statue outside the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.

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A statue of Jackie Stiles was unveiled at the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.(Photo: NEWS-LEADER FILE PHOTO)

The new statue will only further cement her name as one of the all-time greats in the minds of women’s basketball fans at Missouri State and throughout the Ozarks.

A common theme from Stiles and those around here is this rhetorical question: If Jackie Stiles, from tiny Claflin, Kan., can achieve what she did, why can’t anyone else do it?

“My daughter has never watched her play, but just living in the area, she knows who Jackie is,” said Carly (Deer) Stubblefield, a teammate at Missouri State and close friend to this day. “She lights up when Jackie is in the room. Not only did she have an impact on the youth while playing, but she still does today.”

Maybe even a bigger surprise than being honored with a statue and the latest Hall of Fame induction is the comfort level and happiness Stiles is experiencing as an assistant coach at Missouri State.

Stiles said she is as happy coaching as she ever was playing, which was a shock to her. She said she never thought she’d find something that could replace the happiness she felt as a player.

“I have to fill that void in other ways,” Stiles said. “Coaching now fills that void. My mission is to help Missouri State be the best it can be.

“When my time is done here, I want people to say that it’s a better place, and I want it to be the best it can be.”

The numbers for the former WNBA Rookie of the Year are well-known in these parts, but bear repeating.

Stiles finished with 3,393 career points, a record that still stands, and she had a single-season record of 1,062 points as a senior. She was a first-team All-America pick by Kodak and The Associated Press as a senior, when she was the Women’s Basketball News Service Player of the Year.

Stiles was a three-time Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year, and that Valley award now bears her name.

She was a first-round draft pick of the Portland Fire of the WNBA and won Rookie of the Year honors. Injuries — and 13 surgical procedures — eventually led to the end of her athletic career.

She played professionally in Australia before she retired from basketball, and later dabbled in running half-marathons and cycling on a professional level in an attempt to quench her thirst for competition.

“I lost my identity a little bit without the game,” Stiles said. “Luckily I had a good support system that helped me find my way. I’m so glad I was completely retired before I got into coaching, because I don’t think I would have been as good a coach.

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Injuries started to take their toll on Jackie Stiles during her second season in the WNBA.(Photo: NEWS-LEADER FILE PHOTO)

“Now it’s about being selfless and helping these athletes.”

It was painful for those around her to watch as her playing career ended and her body forced a change in approach and mindset.

“I think everybody close to her, and even for the fans, it was tough,” Stubblefield said. “She put so much into it, and you just want to see her succeed at every level that she goes into. To see anyone falter because of injury is just hard to do.”

Stiles spent a season on the bench at Loyola Marymount, working for former Missouri State women’s player Charity (Shira) Elliott. Then she came “home,” joining Kellie Harper’s staff with the Lady Bears.

Stiles said the move to the bench has given her new challenges to tackle. It also provides some sense of closure to her playing career.

Stiles readily admits it wasn’t easy to give up playing – she even took a trip to visit Burnett, who was coaching at the University of Michigan at the time, to get an honest assessment of her ability.

Stiles gives a quick answer when asked if she still misses playing basketball: “Every day,” she said.

“I’m kind of all or nothing, though, so when I retired, I pretty much do not play, because I don’t like being a shell of myself. I’m too competitive. I definitely miss it.

“But I’m definitely doing the next best thing, in coaching.”

Stiles obviously feels right at home back on the Missouri State campus, next door to Hammons Student Center, where she enjoyed some of the most memorable moments of a most memorable career.

“I’m happy to be in the background and help empower others to achieve their dreams, like so many did for me,” Stiles said. “It’s my time to give back and be of more service and help other athletes reach their goals.”

While the current crop of players sometimes gives Stiles grief about having a statue erected outside JQH Arena, and most of them were too young to remember the Lady Bears’ Final Four trip in 2002, it’s obvious there’s a deep sense of affection.

Affection and an appreciation for what Stiles has accomplished.

“What makes or breaks your experiences are the people you are surrounded by,” Stiles said. “I’m surrounded by some amazing people.”

So now on this chapter of her life — after the marathon daily workouts, the championships and awards, the WNBA portion of her career and now into coaching — she takes a different tack on things.

It’s not about her these days.

She doesn’t want to have people look at the assistant coach on the Lady Bears’ bench. She wants to help others find their way, to inspire young players to chase their dreams.

So far, it’s a perfect fit.

“She went through some periods of being a little bit lost,” Stubblefield said. “Once coaching started, you saw that renewed focus, and really a little bit of a relief.

“The giving, and the impact she has on others, has really ignited her coaching and her desire to get others to be their best.”

At the end of a recent media session to talk about her busy summer and the honors coming her way, someone referred to her as a “living legend.”

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A playing career that had plenty of happy times has led to a coaching career with just as much happiness for Jackie Stiles.(Photo: NEWS-LEADER FILE PHOTO)

It wasn’t out of line, considering the number of Halls of Fame she has been enshrined in.

But it made Stiles blush yet again ... and she brushed off such talk.

“I just know I was blessed with God-given talent and ability, and I tried to make the most of it,” Stiles said. “I’ve had a lot of people make sacrifices so I could do the things that I did. I’m just so grateful, and I want to somehow repay and give back and help others now.”